Electric battery



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

one it. nunorr, or ammsoN, wxscoNsrN, ASSIGNOR TO FRENCH BATTERY &

ea, or MADISON, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION or WISCONSIN.

CARBON ELECTRIC BATTERY.

No Drawing.

T0 at whom c't-mayconcern':

Be it known that I, O'rro E. Runorr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Madison, in the county of Dane and State of-Wisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Batteries, of which the following is a spec1fica tion.

This invention relates to electric batteries, both of the type in which there is a bibulous lining of pulp board or similar material close to the zinc can, and also the other type, in which the depolarizing material 1s compressed around the carbon pencil, and in which a suitable electrolyte is poured into the space between the core or bobbin and the zinc can.

The object of the invention is to construct such batteries in which the depolarizing material is of such a character that the battery will have a very long life, part1cularly when kept in storage on the shelves of ordinary merchants vending such batteries, and will be really eflicient after such storage. The invention consists in the use of an exceedingly pure manganesecompound which has not been heretofore used in electric batteries. It also consists in the features and details which will be hereafter more fully set forth in the specification and claims.

One ingredient of the depolarizing mixture of the battery is commonly some ore of manganese present largely or wholly in some form of dioxid. The common practice in the past has'been to use such manganese ores in dry batteries without preliminary treatment other than crushing to a desired degree of fineness. I have found after extensive experimentation that if these managanese ores are subjected to treatment before being used indry batteries, the resulting product is greatly improved. A

, preferred method of treatment consists in placing a suitable quantity of the pulverized manganese ore in a suitable stirring apparatus and adding to it enoutgh dilute acid,

as for example sulfuric aci so that the whole mixture when thoroughly stirred is thin enough to flow readily. The strength of the acid used is regulated in such a way that when the treatment is completed, the liquid still contains free acid to the extent of about 3% to 6% or more. The acid or other solvent material used must be one 7 that, while it will actstrongly enough on Specification ofLetters Patent.

the poisonous metals the impurities so as to remove them, will not attack and destroy to any appreciable extent the manganese dioxid compound contained in the ore.

After the manganese ore has been sufficiently treated with dilute acid, with or without the application of heat, the liquid portion of the mixture is removed by any suitable means; as for example, by filtration and washing. After this operation, the purified manganese ore may be dried partly or wholly as desired. It has also been found that 1n applying this kind of treatment, it may be desirable to add carbonaceous material, such .as order that the final material, after drying, Wlll be of a rather loose consistency rather than being caked into lumps so hard that difiiculty is found in reducing the dried material to a suitably pulverized condition.

By treatment as described, it is possible to remove from manganese ores certain impurities, such as minerals containing copper, arsenic, nickel, cobalt, cadmium, antimony, and the like, hereafter referred to as poisonous metals. scribed need not necessarily remove all of referred to. In fact, 100% removal is unnecessary. What is required is the removal of such minerals or such parts of harmful minerals as would later on become soluble in the battery electrolyte and would thus diffuse to the zinc container of the batter where they would be deposited out and set up a local chemical action resulting in a deterloriation of the battery, even when the entirely idle.

Material prepared by the above process, which is satisfactory for use in a dry battery, should be able to stand the following test: When leached with ordinary battery electrolyte as commonly used in the art, the same being approximately a 30% zinc chlorid solution saturated with sal ammoniac, it will give no indication of such poisonous material. The manganese material which will stand such test is then taken and used in forming the depolarizing material of an electric battery. One such battery which has given satisfactory results contains 50 parts of the prepared manganese, 49 parts of carbonaceous material, 10 parts of sal ammoniac and 12 parts of a zinc chlorid, 45 Baum solution.

Actual tests of such a battery in which the battery is standing Patented Sept. '7, 1920. Application filed November 21, 1918. Serial No. 263,593.

The treatment demanganese compound used is that of the old art; 0., which has not been prepared to stand the above test show the following results:-

5 Butt-ewes containing mmtgancse one as recez'ccd.

Sam Ampcr- Percent. 11pm er 2 5, [ago 1 l dirgp 0 mana or 1 0 ganese ycars r amperorc used. storage. age.

1168 db 10 26 72.2 1169 58 1O '28 73.7 1170 38 13 Y (35.8 1171 39 17 22 50.4 1 5 11:17 .55 17 1s 51. 4 1133 42 10 26 (31.9 1131 .57 1.5 24 64.9

On the other hand, tests of such a battery containing the purified manganese of this 2 invention, show the following results Batteries containing same manganese one, pm'zfiecl.

the manganese dioxid compound contained in the ore. 1n the appended claims the expression solvent treated manganese ore is to be understood as applying to an ore which has been treated with a solvent which serves to substantially eliminate the poisonous impurities, without unduly attacking the manganese dioxid compound. It may be stated,

also, that the treatment has a tendency to increase the porosity of the ore and thus confer upon it a property which is beneficial for battery purposes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An electric battery using a depolarizing material, one of Whose elements is a solventtreated manganese ore of such a character that when leached with a 30% zinc chlorid solution saturated with sal ammoniac, substantially no trace of poisonous metals is shown.

2. An electric battery, combining with the usual positive and negative elements, a depolarizing mixture eomprising parts of manganese dioxid compound, 49 parts carbonaceous materials, 10 parts sal ammoniac, and 12 parts of a zinc chlorid 45 Baum solution, the manganese dioxid used being of such a character that when leached with a 30% 'zinechlorid solution, saturated with sal ammoniac, substantially no trace of poisonous metal is shown.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two wit- 'nesses.

OTTO E. RUHOFF.

Witnesses:

BEN W. PARK, MABEL S. NELSON. 

